our girls are home. but other kids wait. want to help?

ever think about photography?
wish you had a REALLY nice camera? wish you could take better pictures of your kids and grandkids and dogs and cats? wish you didnt have to spend so much to have such a nice camera? well guess what! YOU have a chance to donate just 20 dollars to help bring a little boy home from Serbia. and in doing so YOU GET A CHANCE TO WIN AN AWESOME CAMERA KIT!!! camera, lens, bag, and more! go to
http://myianna.blogspot.com/2011/11/nikon-d3100-camera-giveaway.html
and donate so YOU can have a chance to win a Nikon D3100! kids sell wrapping paper for schools, and you could spend 20 bucks easily on school and sports fundraisers. you could spend 20 bucks easily buying a fancy coffee every day. but you really have a special opportunity here to spend $20 to give a boy a LIFE! and you could win an awesome camera for doing so! well? what are you waiting for? get on over and donate! lets get this little boy a chance at a real future in a family filled with love, instead of a cold sterile insititution where no one will love him as their own. 20 dollars people. thats all it takes. donate and you could win a camera! but if you dont you still win because you helped give a child the gift of a family! THAT is priceless.

really great kids

the kids are settling in nicely. Andre hasnt bitten anyone in a couple of days. so that is a big deal. why they hate to play outside I do not know but I have to shove them out the door. Today I said anyone inside is going to work. 3 of the four worked their butts off helping me. Jaeger and Ethan and Ben and Sophie and Andre helped me clean the basement this morning while Eric took the girls to work with him. once they understand what you want MOST of the time they are more than willing to do it. drinking milk sometimes they dont want to do but in general they are mostly compliant and helpful. The girls had a slumber party the other night all sleeping in one bed. that didnt go over so well with the owner/occupant of that bed. We wont be doing that again for awhile, but they still ask evcery night. they LOVE chicken and its the only thing that ALL of them will eat without a fuss. AJ and Jaeger often just refuse a meal because they dont like it. I am not going to beg them to eat. there will be another meal in a couple of hours and by then they usually come to their senses.

We took them all to the park for the corn feed the other night. they loved it. they liked the corn but not the hot dogs. they liked the soda too. and the playground, and the beach.....Probably they were getting tired of people speaking to them in English and asking them questions they couldnt answer without my translation. all in all I would say it was a pretty successful outing with them.

the girls are so very loving. the boys are becoming more so. Andre crawls in bed with me every morning for snuggles and kisses. sometimes its so early when he comes in that we fall back alseep for awhile. Jaeger responds well to praise. and we are trying to build his confidence by giving him things to do that we can praise him for and also having him do things with Eric, MAN things. like go to the hardware store together. he is a fantastic cleaner. he pitches in better than my other kids. The kids are taking turns drying dishes.

I think at this point with sophie and ben we were still so much in shock and not to mention jetlagged and getting used to various orthotics but generally the kids were so distant. and I was still not attached to them. It has gone much better this time. I am very happy with the children we brought home. They have fit into our family quite well. Sure they fight like siblings. but thats alright. thats real. I would rather deal with real than fight soemthing you cant see.

I am going to switch over to my family blog now. http://Enbergadventures.blogspot.com so please come follow us thee.

too bad the boys dont sleep.

some pics of the kids

new kids are real treasures

the kids are having a bit of tough love. they seem to be responding. having papa at home to reinforce is helpful. Chicken is cooking in the crock pot. we are supposed to go to Maggie and Jays later to visit. first time we have taken them anywhere. We take this one or that one here and there but not all of them at the same time. thank goodness its summer so we can be out by the lake and not IN someone's house. these guys are a bit destructive. so far we have lost a light globe and a set of window blinds. seems minor but many near misses! Andre aka AJ aka the wild man is constantly getting himself into a mess

That said the kids are bright and funny. The girls get more and more loving all the time and Andre is really getting to like having his OWN mama that stays all the time. Jaeger we have discovered has a penchant for handwriting! He loves to write words! I write them and he copies them. his handwriting is awesome! he doesnt like to go outside. he would rather sit in front of the tv which we limit.

oh we do love them. more so every day. Yesterday Diana let me brush her hair and put it up. Today Natasha let me put her hair up. She NEVER lets me do her hair. I take these baby steps as positive signs. Natasha is very loving and always hugging and kissing us saying I LOVE YOU!!! we always say I love you too so now she has started to say I love you too! when she is the first one saying it. In the orphanage she and Diana ALWAYS had their had back. More and more they are letting it down. letting it hang loose. Diana's hair is longer and thicker and she often keeps it back but does let it hang sometimes. Natasha at least part of every day leaves hers hanging down. its so pretty. nice to see her doing what SHE likes with her hair not what is required or expected. will post some pics soon.

so far today

Jaeger has had multiple whiny crying meltdowns because we used the N word(for you nonparents the N word is NO!) Ethan took the boys next door without permission, stayed close to mom for several hours because he keeps taking things, and immidiately took things not belonging to him as soon as I let him loose, Natasha and Diana are probably starving to death because I wont make sandwhich after sandwich for them, Maia whined cryed and snivled because I was making laundry soap and wouldnt let her in while I did, Chrysta had herself a handful of attitude snits, Andre had several meltdowns, chased cars, dumped the pencil sharpener, tasted borax, and tried to eat a handful of cat litter. umm is it bedtime yet? I am so ready!

they did spend the morning playing outside in the water that the rain left. I am sure they wrecked the grass but there was no keeping them out so why fight it? currently the girls are downstairs and the boys are upstairs watching ruff ruffman.

the quads and twins

jaeger ethan natasha (and soon diana) are 8. Maia and Andre are 6. Ben is 6 too but he was downstairs when we took this.